Fire destroyed my beautiful garage.

[Stelzer]

My wife and I were not hurt and although the fire caught my house garage they were able to contain it there and we didn’t have to leave home at all. I‘ve been told the two vehicles that were not registered would not be covered but that info did not come from Insurance co. so I’m hopeful. The real challenge will be recovering my loss of all equipment and tools. I had two or three of everything with 50 years of accumulation.

You're quite a ways from me, but if you made a list of what you need, there's a good chance I have one to spare, and I'll send it to ya. I've been there and know what it's like. Communities like these will help, just ask.

 

[captain14]

Someone just posted within the last month about a friends/neighbors garage fire caused by the same thing.

We’ve had several members that have posted their garage fires in the past and their rebuild and recovery progress.

 

[firebirdparts]

Ugh. So sorry for your loss.

 

[rockettauto]

First of all..sorry to hear of this and glad to see that it was just material loss! That fire looked intense.

Lithium cells/tools and chargers do carry a fire risk vs having none. That said, EV fires (meaning full EV, not hybrids) carry just a small fraction of the fire risk of hybrids and ICE vehicles. It’s not even close. This means that overall, incidence of garage fires due to a vehicle should drop quite dramatically with EV adoption.

That's true.....but only if your source goes back to numbers that were seemingly plucked from thin air.

No, Millions of Cars Are Not Catching Fire Every Year

A New York Times story about U.S. car fires references a study that gets the frequency wrong by a factor of at least 60.

www.caranddriver.com

We see the real numbers for ICE sit around .04 percent.

While the numbers for EV are about .025
percent....

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/are-electric-vehicles-more-likely-to-catch-on-fire/%23:~:text%3DEV%2520fires%2520were%2520significantly%2520lower,a%25201%252C000%2520will%2520catch%2520fire.&ved=2ahUKEwjAs-ySrNL_AhVjkGoFHVbpAM8QFnoECA8QBQ&usg=AOvVaw0G3365SZZ6KOtOvbhMf4gC

Still lower by half but the problem is ,with the way market share has gone over 80 percent of EVs are less than ten years old.

I'm betting if we had only numbers of ICE vehicle fires for vehicles less than ten years old we'd see a much higher proclivity for fire in comparable EVs.

The bad part mentally is that they burn fast,hot are hard to extinguish and they're more likely to catch when not being used and no one is in attendance.

Lithium charging carries this risk, whether it's in a drill or a car.

Also, since lithium batteries can catch fire because of a bad cell, and age isn't kind to them, I foresee the numbers climbing at a much higher rate than ICE as we start to see them age, become less valuable, become the subject of hacky practices and aftermarket " upgrades" etc. Unlike the stabilized rates we can compare with conventional vehicles that are already the subject of all real world abuses. Just imagine a world full of 20+year old , rusted out, abused, and "tuned" EVs, with cheap knockoff replacement batteries.

 

[Mike65]

So sorry for your loss, but at least you & your wife were not hurt in the incident.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Sorry to hear of your loss. As a kid we lost our home to a fire. If there is one thing that freaks me out is the potential for a fire. Even my wife burning candles in our home kind of bothers me.

 

[ZRX61]

What brand tool is suspected?

 

[American Locomotive]

Sorry for your loss!

...but I also feel the need to mention that structure fire root cause analysis is basically psuedoscience at best, and if there was a battery-powered tool in the structure, they will basically ALWAYS use it as a scapegoat. No matter what.

 

[DGersic]

Wow that *****. Sorry for your loss. Good luck with your insurance claims.

I was working on updating my insurance policies anyway.

 

[Sleepchamber]

What brand tool is suspected?

Yes, inquiring minds would like to know. Was it a HF special?

 

[TriumphFan]

Devastating. I'm thankful your home was not damaged.

 

[scooby074]

A horrible loss. Sorry to see.

The one thing that scares me is welding/grinding in my shop. There are no "fire watches" there to protect me once I leave.

Ill echo the questions about what model and brand? I have a lot of faith in my Milwaukee products, but Im starting to think about putting my chargers on a separate switched power bar to shut everything down when Im gone.

 

[FordTruckWench]

This is one of my biggest worries myself. To the point that I now only charge my few cordless tools when I'm in the shop working then they come off the charger...

When I was in third grade, down our street, an attached garage burned. They were charging the battery in their Chevy Vega. Then in eighth grade, during first period, we saw a column of black smoke rising in the distance. Turned out to be around the way from my subdivision. Again, they were charging a car battery in the garage.

I never charge car batteries indoors!

I also don't weld in the shop within about an hour of closing up so I can keep an eye on things before closing up shop.

Was using a friend's shop to cut half inch metal using an abrasive disk - lots of glowing debris hitting the floor. Was going to leave when finished. Decided that sweeping the mess into a pile was dangerous. Consolidating it might create a hot spot. Better to let it cool overnight spread across a large floor area in middle of the shop.

 

[engineer2]

Sorry for your loss. A garage fire is one of my greatest fears.
I have a hardwired temperature alarm on my garage ceiling, but someone has to be around to hear it.
Found I had a new battery powered smoke/CO detector. I was going to install it in my garage even though it's not made for that. The CO part is fine, but any smoke from grinding or butchering wood will set it off.
I'm tempted to install a dry sprinkler system in my garage with a WiFi controlled valve.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Sorry for the loss, as a garage guy, I understand. But the main thing is no one hurt and you still have a home to live in.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Dreadful. Sorry for your loss.

 

[rsparks64]

That *****. Maybe your policy has extra coverage that will help cover those vehicles that had not been added yet.

 

[AC-WC]

Yes, terrible loss but no one got hurt. Different cause but same occurred to my mom's barn almost 5 yrs ago. The best advice I can give is start writing down everything. What helped us was looking at each area and 1) try to remember what was there 2) start digging through stuff because you will find things you forgot about. We are just now to the point of replacing the building as it was not insured Contents were covered though. Typically, for small items, you have to purchase the item, provide the receipt and they reimburse you. For big ticket items I had quotes done from legit business', insurance gave an OK to proceed, had to sign contract with dealer as evidence item was actually ordered/purchased and they would cut a check. On the big ticket items I worked with one dealer as a 'large sale' and got better deals. I fought with the adjuster every step of the way. Just remember their job is to keep the money and your job is to extract every legit item. Adjusters get a percentage of everything that you 'don't spend' from your policy.

 

[ZRX61]

Lithium battery fire made the news tonight. Fire started in a ground floor bicycle shop & killed 4 people in the apartments above it.

 

[Norcal]

Fire is everyone's nightmare. Sorry that your in that situation.

 

[FordTruckWench]

I see bits of drywall here and there. Was this wall treatment all the way around? What about the ceiling? Was it taped and mudded?

(I ask because it is often recommended that garages be finished with drywall as a fire barrier.)

 

[stingry]

To the OP, I feel feel your pain. This happened to me 11 yrs ago, I lost my barn/ shop to a fire, including a 1968 Chevelle SS 396 that I was restoring. As others have said, automobiles are not covered by homeowners insurance. I had collector car insurance, so all good there. A few words of advice to those of you that have garages/shops:
1. Review your insurance, make sure you are adequately covered.
2. Are your contents insured for replacement value? If not, insurance company will depreciate the contents and give you that value!
3. Take pictures or videos of your contents. This helps in two ways. It serves as a reminder of what was lost and proves what you lost to the insurance company. I had pictures of all my tools and other contents. The replacement process went seamlessly.
4. Store your flammable liquids in a safe manner. This was the cause of my fire.

 

[racecougar]

Good points above. Just adding one more:

5. Store your rechargeable tool batteries in a fireproof bag or box rated for such use, and only charge batteries when physically present.

 

[naturalgas]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. It’s a slow process. it’s been three weeks and I still can’t touch the burnt down garage as the insurance is still investigating the battery operated tool and may need to dig through debris further. I don’t see how that will help as it’s been raining almost daily since the fire. They have been gutting and cleaning the house garage which was full even with second floor storage. I have contents everywhere and out of room so some just in driveway. I’m a hands on guy and it’s frustrating when they send a electrician with nothin but a pair of lineman pliers and no flashlight and a hvac expert with a fancy flashlight and multimeter only and informs the Ins.co.my condensers are fine without running them because they have no power because of fire.

 

[reader2580]

If there is still good stuff from the garage I would talking to the insurance company about getting a storage container of some sort like a POD to keep the stuff out of the weather. Even if insurance won't pay you should consider still getting the container yourself if there is enough value in the items that are sitting outside.

 

[naturalgas]

I see bits of drywall here and there. Was this wall treatment all the way around? What about the ceiling? Was it taped and mudded?

(I ask because it is often recommended that garages be finished with drywall as a fire barrier.)

Yes it was but didn’t help much with all the fuel in vehicles and in containers.

 

[naturalgas]

If there is still good stuff from the garage I would talking to the insurance company about getting a storage container of some sort like a POD to keep the stuff out of the weather. Even if insurance won't pay you should consider still getting the container yourself if there is enough value in the items that are sitting outside.

I have one, also two sheds full and cleaning co. has boxes and boxes of things to be cleaned.

 

[naturalgas]

What brand tool is suspected?

 

[rktinc]

So So sorry. This is one of my biggest fears. I am glad to hear the insurance is in place. Not sure on the non-registered car thing, but maybe that 30 day rule will help you.

Seems like the fires I have read about here on the forum and one that happened to a friend have all been battery related. His was a golf cart battery.

Good luck with the insurance. My few experiences with adjusters tells me that being polite and thankful for their time may yield a better initial outcome.

 

[naturalgas]

I don’t want to put the name of tool until it’s proven to be cause. But I will say it was a very cheap Chinese mini chainsaw. Figured if it worked for my brush cleanup for a short while before it crapped out for what it cost I wouldn’t care. I had several of the red tools and batteries the other side of bldg.

 

[67CarGuy]

Ugh, that's terrible. Sorry for your losses - hopefully insurance is able to help out with at least *some* of the recovery.

 

[Subutai]

I’m really sorry to hear this.

I just hope no family members or pets were injured in the blaze.

Best of luck to your rebuilding what was lost.

 

[smackey05]

Sorry to hear. Glad you and the family are OK!